In the world today it’s becoming harder and harder to find a traditional job, depending on what you’re looking for. Of course for most teenagers, they will start out in fast food or shop assisting, cashing in a grocery store and the like. Sometimes though it’s not feasible for a teenager to take on jobs of this nature depending on their location or school and after school commitments. This can make it hard for teens to earn their own money, but here are seven fantastic ways teenagers can make some money on the side, without necessarily needing to find a part time job.
Sell Online
There are a lot of websites that will accept old books, films, CD’s, and even clothes and mobile phones. You just need to type in the bar codes or the makes and models and then see how much you can get for each item. Newer phones bring in more money, rarer books and CD’s and films do as well, as do labelled designer clothes. So get rummaging in the closet and see what you’ve got to sell!
Do Chores for Neighbours and Parents
It’s likely that you might have a couple of elderly neighbours and that your parents won’t want to have to do any chores around the house after being at work all day. This is where teens can capitalise by offering to do light work around the house for these groups of people in exchange for payment. The best thing is here that it doesn’t need to be a huge payment either. Even just $10-$20 per day worked can go a long way to helping teens save up for that gadget or even for college. Some examples of chores are snow shovelling, leaf raking, gutter cleaning (which can actually rake you in more money as no one wants to do it, no one wants to hire a professional for a lot of money, and it’s fairly strenuous, physical work, which makes it perfect for teenagers to earn even more money).
Etsy and Fiverr, Vrtsk, People Per Hour and Upwork
This is a bit of a unique one for teens these days. If you have a specialist skill such as great technique in graphic design – but you haven’t gone to school to be qualified, you can still put those skills to work for you and build your portfolio for college while you’re at it by doing gigs on Fiverr, Upwork or People Per Hour for people looking for quality products for cheap. Most gigs on Fiverr literally start at $5, with a small commission to the site, but if you do even just five or six gigs per week or per month, that’s around $25 right there in your pocket for doing something you enjoy anyway!
Etsy is similar but focuses mainly on handmade items such as jewellery and artistic pieces to be sold online. Have a look on their website to get an idea of what they feature – there is literally so much that can work!
App Work
If you have a smartphone – and most teens will – you can check out websites that will pay you to test and review various apps for them. Payment can be from as little as a few dollars per test, but it can add up quickly if you do several per week.
Virtual Assistance
A lot of companies, especially smaller firms, often hire people through websites like Fiverr to provide crucial busy-work services that they don’t have the scope to complete in house, like data entry. Signing on to do these small odd jobs can help you build your reputation as a reliable employee, and you can ask for references on your work as well, which will help bulk up your resume. Payment varies from gig to gig, and on what needs doing, but many jobs can be negotiated, so you could end up just doing 2-3 hours work for a negotiated price (and not just a standard flat rate).
Newspaper Rounds or Flyer Delivery
This is an old standby for teenagers, but can be fairly lucrative depending on the company you deliver for, and it only requires a few hours a week, and perhaps a parent who can drive you to the pick up point to collect the papers. Payment varies, but many small community newspapers are often looking for delivery people.
RedBubble, DeviantArt
The final idea for teens to make some side money is by employing the services of websites like RedBubble and DeviantArt as avenues onto which to sell your artistic endeavours. This can be a great way to get your artwork noticed if you’re artistically inclined and you can end up seeing some of your own work on things like bags, shirts and fridge magnets! So check them out as they often have people looking to commission work as well, which can lead to lucrative contracts with art seekers.
So there you have seven fantastic, cool and fun ways to make money as a teenager. You could even do one better and use a few of these great avenues and really rake in the dough. So have a look around and see what you can commit to, as some things such as Fiverr and Upwork can have time constraints, but others like RedBubble and Ebaying are virtually “do it when you want”. Have fun!
